Brothers Jeff and Austin Pistor left their Texas homes yesterday with a truck full of supplies but no real plan.
“We heard about the storm when it was coming and felt like God said, ‘There’s a need, so go do what you can to help,” Austin said.
The brothers ended up in Bayou Gauche, where yesterday they rescued an elderly couple – the man of which is in a wheelchair – who were trapped in their home.
“We got here at about 2:30 yesterday and just felt like God led us there,” Austin said of the couple’s home. “The door was cracked open, and we went over and yelled if anyone was home.”
The brothers, along with some of the couple’s neighbors, spent a few hours clearing out fallen trees and rescuing the couple.
Today, they tackled clearing WPA Road.
“It’s like two miles long with lots of trees on it … we just decided to start hacking them up and make it drivable,” Austin said. “We’ve met lots of people … people who came by to help and people who were driving through … everyone we’ve met here has been super friendly and helpful. This type of community will be able to put stuff together faster because everyone is so interconnected.”
Austin, a recent Baylor alum, said that he and Jeff will have to go back to Texas tomorrow.
“He’s a senior at Baylor, and he’s kind of skipping classes for this,” Austin said with a laugh.
Austin said the experience of coming to St. Charles Parish will have a lasting impact on the brothers.
“You can destruction like this in pictures or YouTube videos, but in person it’s a lot more impactful,” Austin said. “We were super excited to come and help. Part of the draw was we saw what was going on in Afghanistan and we had such a desire to help out, but what can you really do? Then this happened in our backyard basically, and this is something we can get to and help.”
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